


Ýdr'yiòs

by bblgumbby, gameofdrarrymod, glittering_git, Kasena, MalenkayaCherepakha



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Creature Fic, Dragon Draco Malfoy, Folklore, M/M, Magizoology (Harry Potter), Minor Injuries, Post-Hogwarts, Round Robin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-15 17:43:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18674443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bblgumbby/pseuds/bblgumbby, https://archiveofourown.org/users/gameofdrarrymod/pseuds/gameofdrarrymod, https://archiveofourown.org/users/glittering_git/pseuds/glittering_git, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kasena/pseuds/Kasena, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalenkayaCherepakha/pseuds/MalenkayaCherepakha
Summary: Harry's a magizoologist. It's just enough excitement to keep him from being bored, and just boring enough he doesn't have to worry about dark wizards around every turn. His latest concern is the new breed of dragon that seems to have appeared, already wreaking havoc south of London. Now he has to get this dragon to trust him enough to take care of him. Easier said than done.





	Ýdr'yiòs

**Author's Note:**

> The Shadowrose House Round Robin prompt:  
> "This isn’t what I expected when I woke up this morning." + Enemies to Lovers (optional: + Creature Fic)
> 
> This was written for the Shadowrose House Round Robin as part of the Game of Drarry Spring 2019 Fest. Thank you so much to [Kristina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kristinabird/pseuds/Kristinabird) for doing an amazing job beta’ing this fic for us. Thanks to the Game of Drarry mods for making this fest possible.

Usually, Harry Potter began his day with a coffee and pastry from the little café around the corner from his office. Usually, he would spend an hour or so looking over the latest academic findings of other magizoologist researchers, or peruse a few of the new articles in _Magizoologist Monthly._ Usually, Harry Potter would then spend some time looking over his own research and findings before setting out to tend to the creatures themselves. Usually, Harry Potter spent his days with thestrals, fledgling hippogriffs, and ailing phoenixes, perhaps the rogue flaming salamander nest in Blackpool, or sightings of a grindylow family in the Thames—as had happened last April. He did his heavy academic research on dragons mainly, as well as the handful of other fire-associated beasts like chimeras, salamanders, and the phoenix.

Usually, Harry Potter was not in the Critical and Highly Risky Incidents Ward at St. Mungo's, where his ex was being treated for a vicious dragon attack—3rd degree burns, bites, and all.

Harry didn't know why Charlie was back in the UK, let alone in St. Mungo's version of A&E. It had been a huge shock, seeing Ron's face in his fireplace that afternoon on an urgent Floo call. He’d peeked into the room while the healers were working on Charlie and winced—Charlie would be out of commission for some time, and he’d come out of this with quite a few wicked scars. (It’d only make the git more attractive, at any rate.) Harry had then been promptly yelled at by a healer and escorted back to the waiting area with the rest of the Weasleys.

It didn’t take long for the healers to sort out the worst of Charlie’s injuries, and soon the Weasleys were all trooping into his hospital room, Harry tagging along behind them. Once Harry had ascertained that Charlie’s injuries weren’t too serious though, he had left the Weasley’s alone, feeling that his status as ex-boyfriend didn’t warrant taking up space in the very cramped hospital room.

He headed home, mind already turning back to the topic of the research paper he was currently working on, a dissertation on the social behaviour of fire dwelling salamanders.

Harry was so deep in thought as he walked into his kitchen in search of a cup of tea that he almost didn’t notice the large, stern looking owl sat on his kitchen table. He immediately recognised the owl as belonging to the Ministry; somehow all of their owls managed to adopt the exact same officious and self-important look that graced the faces of many senior ministry officials.

Harry took the letter and his tea through to his office and settled himself down at his desk before opening the letter.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_As one of Britain’s leading magizoologists, we are writing to you today to ask you to consult on a case that has come to our attention._

_We have been informed that a dragon attack has recently taken place in Great Britain, which I am sure you are aware is a rare occurrence indeed. While the attack was not fatal, we are concerned about the safety of both the magical and muggle populations and are keen to identify the dragon and ensure that it receives the attention it needs to prevent it attacking again._

_This is obviously a very sensitive matter, and one that we do not want the press to find out about, in order to avoid unnecessary widespread panic. I am confident that we can rely on your discretion in this matter should you agree to help us._

_Please see the attached file for further information on the case, and details on the specific help we require from you._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Fiona Whitehall_

_Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures_

_Ministry of Magic_

Curious, Harry flicked through the file attached to the letter, picking out the main facts of the case. Clearly, Charlie’s attack was the incident described in the letter, the details in the file expanding on what Charlie had said in the hospital. Harry would have been very interested in the case even without the personal connection, but the fact that the dragon had attacked someone close to him made him even keener to work on the case.

He dashed off a quick letter to the Ministry, confirming that he would consult with them, before picking up the file again to read it through in more detail this time.

The file was relatively short on details, providing Harry with only the bare bones of the case, and it soon became clear that the first step in his investigation would involve speaking to Charlie. As an experienced dragonologist, Charlie would be able to provide Harry with specific information about the dragon that would hopefully speed up the early stages of his investigation. Harry decided to give Charlie a little more time to recover from the attack before bombarding him with questions, but resolved to head back to the hospital in the morning.

**~~~**

Harry was up bright and early the next morning, used to waking up before the sun to study the various creatures that constituted his work. He wanted to have a chance to go over the case file from the Ministry once more before heading to the hospital. He stopped by his favourite pastry shop near St.Mungo’s and picked up a chocolate croissant.

When he arrived, he was told by a nice nurse that he was too early for visiting hours. He simply smiled at him and prepared to spend 30 minutes in an uncomfortable hospital waiting room, but could see the moment the hospital staff realized exactly who he was.

“Oh, Mr. Potter, please, you simply must visit your friend,” another nurse said from across the hall.

“Oh no, it’s okay,” Harry responded, “I’m just fine waiting until visiting hours officially begin.”

“Oh no, we really must insist. We wouldn’t want to have the great Harry Potter kept waiting in St. Mungo’s.”

Harry knew that the nurse was well-meaning, but he was so tired of the hero-worshipping. He knew that it was easier to simply do what was being asked, rather than fight against their wishes.

“Besides,” the nurse continued, “Charlie Weasley just woke up, so why don’t you go talk to him while he eats his breakfast?”

Harry looked down at the unappetizing breakfast tray in the nurse’s hands and shrugged. He might as well. The nurse led the way through a series of hallways and corridors to a white hospital door that looked like all the other white hospital doors.

“Mr. Weasley, you have a guest here,” the nurse announced, knocking lightly and then pushing the door open.

“Isn’t it too early for guests?” Charlie responded from where he lay on the bed. Harry winced at the bandages still covering much of Charlie’s body. Even spending a night with the most skilled healers in the UK hadn’t entirely healed him? This dragon attack must have been much worse than usual.

“For normal guests, yes,” the nurse conceded. “But your guest is special.”

“I can’t believe the actual Queen of England came to visit me.”

“No, even better. It’s Harry Potter.”

Charlie only seemed mildly surprised, looking up at Harry as the nurse set the tray in his lap. “Harry, didn’t you come visit with the rest of the family yesterday?”

“Yeah, I did, but this isn’t necessarily a social call.”

He watched Charlie tut, shaking his head. “Here I was hoping for a rousing session of getting-back-together sex. What do you need?”

Unable to stop himself from grinning at Charlie’s sense of humour, so similar to the twins, Harry sat at the chair beside the bed. He’d brought the letter to reference back to, which now seemed like it had been a brilliant idea. “That dragon that attacked you was here in Britain. I got a letter from the Ministry. They want it identified and taken care of so that it doesn’t end up attacking again.”

Charlie slowly nodded. “I had seen the dragon while I was romping out near Salisbury. I was gonna make it a surprise to the family that I was back, but I decided to get in a good hike first. Then I spotted just a dragon right in the middle of the forest, not far off the trail. Of course I wanted to help the poor thing. Seemed terrified out of its wits, confused—you know how they can be.”

Harry frowned, nodding along to Charlie’s story. “You don’t think someone let it out near the Muggles, do you?”

“No way to tell for sure. I tried to get close, the thing looked at me and it was scared, but then…” The older man shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s like he recognized me—definitely male. He really looked at me, and decided just like that that he _hated_ me. He just started attacking. I didn’t have a chance. Surprised he didn’t kill me, though. He definitely had the chance.”

This was just getting stranger and stranger by the second. A dragon Charlie had never seen before hating him on sight? There was a reason he was ‘The Dragon Charmer.’ Dragons seemed to instinctively love him. “Glad he didn’t. How are you feeling, by the way?”

Charlie chuckled, looking down at himself. “Better than when I got in here, so that’s something, at least. I think it looks a lot worse than it actually is. Or should I say _better?_ ”

“Oh, bugger off. What’d this dragon look like, anyway?”

He watched Charlie think it over, shaking his head. “No breed I’ve seen before. Hope no one’s crossbreeding again, hate fixing those messes. Four legs, huge wings, a tail probably four metres long.” Alright, at least it wasn’t a wyrm or a wyvern, then. “It was silvery white, almost _pearly._ And he had these horns on his head—bit of a long muzzle, too—wicked sharp claws.” Taking careful note of it all, Harry finally nodded, managing to give Charlie a smile.

“Thanks, Charlie. This is really gonna help. You know it’s bad if they’re calling me in.”

“Don’t I know it,” Charlie laughed, wincing after a moment. Still in pain then. “You leaving me already?”

“I have to go.”

“Story of my life.” Harry put aside Charlie’s jokes as he left him with his sorry-looking breakfast.

He had work to do.

**~~~**

Though this was not his normal track-and-observe sort of mission, Harry had a basic idea of how this would go. A quick trip back to the office, then home, and he was packed and prepared to set out. He'd replied to Ms. Whitehall via owl that morning after visiting Charlie, letting her know that he was officially on the case. Though his concern about dragon attacks was quite high, Harry admittedly was won over by his curiosity.

_An unknown breed… pearly scales, horns, and razor-sharp claws… tail four metres long and huge wings…_

It sounded like a beast out of a faerie tale. It sounded even more ferocious than the nesting Horntail he'd faced as a teenager. _Hopefully I'll have better luck than Charlie._

The last thing he had packed was a Ministry-issued automatic resizing collar, so any beast could be safely tagged and identified, large or small. Cloak and glasses secure, he mounted his Firebolt up on the roof and kicked off, heading in the general direction of Salisbury, hoping he'd find the dragon before the dragon found him.

It was a good day for flying, and Harry was glad for it. He much preferred broom travel to Apparating for work. After a few hours, he touched down, perhaps an hour or so outside of Salisbury, within walking distance of a wizarding town called Garmsby. The whole county and surrounding areas were magical and therefore not on Muggle maps. He'd need to find a room for the night, and ask some locals about recent creature activity to see if the dragon had been spotted.

He shrank and stowed his Firebolt before entering the local pub, The Frog & Peach. It seemed like a mash-up of the Burrow and the Hog's Head; warm and old and wild, which matched most of the pub's patrons as well. In fact, a good number of them nearly looked creature-like in their wildness. Perhaps he'd come to the right place to ask after a rare and dangerous beast.

Harry approached the bar, where a tall, freckled witch was polishing glasses, greying blonde hair braided and twisted up atop her head. “Good afternoon, ma'am,” Harry said with a smile. He hoped the townspeople would be accommodating. “I was hoping for a bed for the night, and to ask if there have been any dragon sightings nearby—”

“Dragons?! Well I'll tell ye boy, we've seen ‘em—!” A grizzled man suddenly seemed to appear next to Harry, dark eyes wide and sparkling with excitement. He seemed to be missing a tooth or two, and his clothes seemed to reflect a forest camouflage. Harry suspected he didn't bathe often.

“Oi! Let the boy get a room first, Doonan, before you talk ‘is ear off!” The barwoman said, smacking the man's shoulder with a rag like one would an excited dog. She turned her attention to Harry and raised an eyebrow, appraising him. He unconsciously stood up a little straighter. “Well, I'll eat m'hat if you're a poacher or potioneer, boy, too straight-laced and kind-faced for that.”

“Um, thank you-?”

A heavy key appeared on the bar in front of Harry. He seemed to have passed the test. “Two galleons gets you your bed, supper tonight, and a bite in the morning ‘fore y'head off. Good?”

“Yes, ma'am, thank you,” Harry replied, fishing two galleons out of his pocket in exchange for the key. The wild man by Harry's side seemed beside himself with excitement, eagerly waiting his turn to speak with the newcomer.

“Oh, enough now, lovely, and call me Winifred.”

“Winnie, m'dear, a pint for the dragon lad!” Doonan cried, before practically dragging Harry to a table, to the amusement of the other pub patrons. For such a thin man, he was quite strong. He fixed Harry with his dark gaze and steepled his long, knobby fingers. “Now, m'lad, what do ye need to know about the dragons?”

Harry pulled out his field notebook and pencil, ready to document whatever information Doonan could give him. “A friend of mine was out near Salisbury yesterday about a dragon—he's a dragon expert, world-renowned—and it attacked him on sight. I need to know if you've seen it, if it passed this way at any time in the past week.”

Doonan stroked his beard, humming. “We see a lot of beasts and creatures in Garmsby, fae folk in the forest and nymphs in the river. But dragons—Dragons are something special.” He paused as Winifred sets down two pints of ale and good-naturedly smacked his shoulder. He took a long drink of his ale, prompting Harry to do the same.

“See, a long long time ago, before you or I or even ol’ Winnie were around, this place was special. Lots of magic in the Earth and the trees and the like. Legend has it that a small band of infected wizards migrated from Greece into France, and then from France to right here, during the dark ages. See here boy—it's said they were cursed by the Gods, to become an Ýdra, a sort of dragon, when they reached a certain age—cursed to roam the lands as a terrifying beast. But with their magic, they would learn to control it; they could shift from beast to man at will, if they wished.” Doonan paused, impressively finishing off the rest of his drink.

“As time passed, the curse began to fade. Not every child was a son, and not every son was cursed. They say the Ýdr’yiós have died out, too much inbreeding and blood dilution, but I say different. I think they've just gotten good at taking other forms!”

“You mean like an Animagus?”

“Precisely lad! Supposedly the first Animagus was an Ýdr'yiòs descendant that skipped the dragon gene, but still learned to control the transformation, see?” As much as Harry hated to admit it, that made quite a bit of sense.

“But, have you seen a dragon around here recently?” Legends wouldn't help him if he couldn't find the beast.

“Aye we have,” another patron interrupted them. “Saw the shadow first on the 6th, was that a Tuesday?”

“Yea- came from the West, it did. Huge beasty, must've been larger than a Ridgeback.” Harry was surprised; no one seemed to be terribly afraid, like a new breed of dragon was just another example of the strange things that happened here.

“Might try heading out to the fields near the forest tomorrow,” Doonan said, that twinkle back in his beady eyes. “He’s got to be hiding, eh? Eighteen metres from snout to tail and hasn't mastered the change yet.”

“Eighteen metres?” Hell, the thing was just as huge as Charlie said. Getting himself more comfortable, Harry took a sip off his pint. “What else can you tell me?”

~~~

Overall, the information Harry collected after that didn’t seem too relevant or important. But what he’d gotten at the beginning. Of course, living in the Wizarding World, and what with the Deathly Hallows, Harry had learned never to doubt legends in the Wizarding World. A line of wizards that can transform into dragons at will? And they weren’t animagi, so that meant they weren’t registered. But then, why would someone attack Charlie? Okay, he couldn’t let himself get carried away with this. First things first, he needed to focus on a dragon that was probably lost and scared.

It was actually fairly relaxing, to take a nice hike through the woods. He’d kept himself busy with work, and most of the time, hiking in a forest reminded him of the war, but this was a bit different. Probably because it was spring, just starting to go into summer. Everything felt more alive, like the world had finally realized everything was okay. Harry stopped at the top of a hill and took a deep breath. It was freeing.

He looked down at the other side of the hill, and his eyes widened. Well. That certainly looked like signs of a dragon, if there were ever any. Trees cracked and broken, in a trail that looked like it’d fallen right out of the sky and down the hill. Poor thing was probably hurt then. That wouldn’t help. He’d need to be careful.

Harry hurried down the hill, trying to keep himself on his toes. It wouldn’t be easy for a dragon to sneak up on him, especially in a forest full of branches to crack and leaves to rustle, but stranger things had happened in his life. Hearing a low, crooning sound, he froze and looked over his shoulder. Nothing that he could see. In fact, it sounded like it came from in front of him, just behind the cropping of bushes. Taking his wand out, he pointed it at the bushes and cast, “ _Muffliato._ ” Brushing them to the side nearly silently, he heard a thick crack and the same sound as before followed immediately after.

He stepped forward into a clearing and couldn’t help but to gasp. Just as they’d said, there was a dragon that was frankly, fairly huge. It could easily throw Harry aside with one swipe of its tail. Silvery scales that seemed to shimmer with rainbows whenever the sunlight managed to catch on them, wide wings that could probably lift it in into the air in a single beat—long spiralled horns, too. Hell, it was gorgeous. And it was… running into trees on purpose? That was what it looked like, at least. Stepping further in, Harry looked around—Ah, perfect.

He picked up a twig and used his hands to break it in half so as to not sneak up on the dragon, watching it pause and twist its head towards him. Harry held his hands out for it to see that he was unarmed. “Hey,” he said quietly, leaning down to kneel on one knee. “Hey there. Hey. You’re okay.” The dragon seemed to snarl at him, and shit...it was probably gonna come for him next. He might have enough time to take out his wand and cast a shield charm… It was walking away from him. What was this dragon _doing?_ This wasn’t normal behavior. It looked like it was on the edge of adolescence, just entering adulthood.

Making sure he had everything on him, Harry stood quickly and hurried after the dragon, trying to keep a safe distance. “Hey—Hey, no, no, I need to make sure you’re okay.” Now the dragon was running, and looked like it was going to try to fly out of here. That was _not_ what Harry needed right—It fell. It fell down into the grass. Had it hurt its wing at some point? He needed to get closer to take a look.

He watched for a second more to see what the dragon would do next, but it seemed that he—was it a he? Harry couldn’t tell from where he was—was down for good. The dragon was making strange whuffling noises, but wasn’t trying to get up or fly away.

Harry decided to approach the dragon. He was a magizoologist for Merlin’s sake, this was his job. He carefully moved closer to where the dragon had fallen, holding his hands up in a classic I’m-not-going-to-hurt-you gesture. It wouldn’t have mattered what he was doing, because the dragon was no longer looking in his direction. Instead, the dragon had turned his head towards the ground and looked like it was trying to burrow under.

“Are you okay?” Harry asked, close enough now to tell that the dragon was indeed a he. The dragon ignored him, and continued trying to push his large snout into the ground. Harry continued to observe, fascinated by this strange behaviour. Dragons normally didn’t let humans approach them without keeping a close eye on them, and he’d never seen one completely ignore the presence of a human.

Unsure what to do, and knowing that actually touching the dragon would be a bad idea, he took out his wand. He could at least perform a series of diagnostic spells that would tell him more about the dragon. But as soon as his wand was out, the dragon was back on his feet, snarling.

Harry jumped back and returned his wand to its holster. He put his hand up again, projecting a sense of calm that he did not feel. It seemed like the wand was a no-go.

“I’m sorry. I won’t take out my wand again.” The dragon continued to stare at Harry, its piercing gaze rooting Harry to the spot.

“I simply wanted to know why you attacked my friend, Charlie.” At the sound of Charlie’s name, the dragon snorted, and Harry was once again taken aback. The expression on the dragon’s face was just so human. “He’s a pretty nice guy, ya know?”

The dragon now had an expression of disbelief, and Harry couldn’t help but defend Charlie. “He really is, and I will not let a dragon besmirch his good reputation.”

Now the dragon’s eyes were really sparkling, and Harry was struck by how beautiful he was. Nature had a way of creating some pretty stunning creatures—he had a soft spot for the bright fire-dwelling salamanders—but there was something otherworldly about this particular dragon.

The dragon was clearly in pain, and Harry was incapable of leaving an animal injured when he knew he could help. But based on his earlier reactions, he wasn’t sure the dragon would let him near enough to heal his wounds.

Thinking back to previous scared animals that he’d helped, Harry sat himself down at the edge of the clearing, just inside the tree line. The dragon needed to get used to him, to realise that he wasn’t a threat. Harry placed his wand on the ground beside him, just slightly too far away to be able to grab it quickly, a clear sign of peaceful intent that the dragon should be able to interpret.

Then Harry started to talk.

It was a tactic that had worked well for him before. It seemed as though dragons found his voice soothing, and at times he’d even had the feeling that they could understand him.

At first, Harry just prattled on about whatever came to mind, trying his best to stick to light, easy topics, not wanting the dragon to sense any tension coming from Harry. He told the dragon about the trip he had taken with Teddy last summer, when they had camped in a clearing a little like this one.

After nearly 45 minutes of chatting, the dragon had calmed down significantly. He was still clearly wary of Harry, and stayed at the opposite side of the clearing, but he was no longer holding himself ready to pounce at any minute, a sure sign that he was beginning to trust Harry.

Unfortunately, Harry was starting to run out of things to talk about. This was the longest it had ever taken to get an animal to trust him; normally he only needed about 20 minutes worth of material.

Searching desperately for something, anything to say, Harry found himself saying to the dragon, “You know who I bet would love to see you?”

When the dragon didn’t respond, due to it being a dragon and not an actual conversation partner, Harry continued.

“Draco Malfoy, that’s who. He’s got that whole dragon thing going on in his name, the pretentious git. He’s all pale like you are too. You could almost be a Malfoy actually, with that albino aesthetic you’ve got. I’ve never seen a dragon this pale before, it’s beautiful.”

The dragon had turned to look at Harry as he blabbed on, and at one point Harry could have sworn the dragon had a look of shock or even fear in his eyes. Harry shrugged it off as just another quirk of this unusual creature and continued his train of thought.

“I guess maybe I just like pale things. I did always have a bit of a thing for Malfoy and that blond hair after all.” Harry said, laughing, “It was just a little bit inconvenient at school when I was supposed to be hating him.”

The dragon was staring at Harry now, seemingly hanging on his every word. Harry knew that he had the dragon now, that it wouldn’t be long before he would be able to get close enough to heal his wounds. Just a few more minutes should do it…

“Still is a bit tricky I suppose, when I see him around the Ministry. It’s not like I have to pretend to hate him any more, everyone’s over that now, but Merlin, I can’t have him knowing I’ve got a little thing for him, he’d never let me live it down.”

As he spoke, Harry gradually got to his feet, eyes trained on the dragon, watching for any hint that he was in danger.

“I haven’t seen him around for a while actually… I wonder if he’s on holiday? I hope he’s okay…” Harry continued as he walked over to the dragon, now focused far more on the dragon’s reactions than on what he was saying.

He was nearly close enough to reach out and touch the dragon’s wing, and Harry decided that the dragon was calm enough to start attempting to heal him.

Harry reached into his pack and started to pull out a nice healing salve that he’d brought with him. It healed just about anything, above or below the surface. He didn’t see much wrong on the surface, so maybe the poor thing just twisted a wing. “Normally, he’s constantly working. I heard there’s been a bet going around recently of what his longest shift’s been. Highest number so far is 78 hours, the lowest is 15. Tells you what we all think of him, doesn’t it?”

He shook his head as he watched the dragon. “I tell you. Workaholics. He and Hermione are too alike for their own good. If they both ever teamed up for something, I think I’d run for the hills. I’m gonna take your wing now, alright? I’ve got a nice salve, it’ll make whatever’s hurting feel a lot better. It’s right here, right? At the joint?”

Knowing that the dragon wouldn’t answer, Harry took the wing and bent it carefully. It was more than big enough to engulf him entirely. He watched the dragon’s reactions, and as he tugged it forward, the dragon winced. “Yeah, right at that joint, huh? I’m gonna press down on it, try not to land me in St. Mungo’s too, alright? That wouldn’t be too good for you, I think. They’d send the more serious handlers. Trust me, you like me a lot more than you’d like them. When I say serious, I mean in just about every way.” He leaned forward and gently pressed down on the point where the wing connected to the torso, and the dragon roared and hissed, his claws digging into the ground. But he _wasn’t_ attacking Harry. Even after Harry had directly caused him pain.

Something was wrong, here. Something was very wrong. Was this a dragon that had been raised on a foreign reserve? Or maybe on one of those ranches that he and Charlie hated because they skirted the law? Yes, technically they were legal, but only barely, seeing as the point of half of those ranches was to create half-breeds, or new breeds in general. It almost had Harry convinced that that old man had been _right_ about old legends, but… Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Harry waved his hand at the small jar of salve, muttering, “ _Accio salve._ ”

The salve flew over to him and he caught it, dipping his fingers into it. “Alright. This is going to be cold at first, but I promise, it’s gonna help you feel better.” He spread the salve across the joint and again the dragon hissed, but still remained fairly calm and docile beside him. This was so strange. “You wanna know another thing? _Rich people._ Yeah, I get it, I’m technically rich too, but I never grew up rich. Even Hermione doesn’t get it the way that Ron does. I mean, both her parents were dentists. Do you know the kind of money dentists make? Because most wizards don’t.

“And Draco, god, he loves going around the Ministry in his top-quality designer wand-made tailored whatever-other-prefixes clothes. I think he has them specifically tailored to show off his arse, you know? I wouldn’t be surprised.” He’d heard about a couple flings that Draco had had over the years, so it really wouldn’t surprise him if Draco were to do something like that. “He chooses good colours, at least. Kinda like you. I’ve never seen anyone with scales like yours, you know that?”

Alright, salve was on. “Okay, I’m gonna bandage it now so none of that salve wipes off. It takes a while for it to do its magic, so can you try not to pick at those bandages? I promise this is to help you. I try not to do anything that’ll set a dragon off on me. You only make that mistake once, in this business.” He just needed to take the bandages out and wrap them around that joint. Shouldn’t be too hard.

“How are you doing? Are you holding up alright? I don’t use that salve much. Is it working pretty good for you?” The dragon snorted, smoke billowing out of its nostrils. He took that as an affirmative. Actually, it was pretty strange, this dragon seemed to be giving him real responses.

Harry moved to take a step back from the dragon. Now that he had managed to apply the healing salve, there was no need for him to be quite so close,and most injured animals preferred to be left alone.

But not this dragon, it seemed.

As soon as Harry started moving, the dragon made a high-pitched screech and moved its injured wing down, trapping Harry under it. Harry immediately froze and did his best to control his breathing, afraid that the smallest movement would set the dragon off again.

After Harry had waited for what felt like hours but was most likely only a few minutes, the dragon relaxed once again and slowly moved its wing back up. Harry breathed a sigh of relief, and started to inch away again. This time, the dragon made no noise, but simply turned its head and gave Harry a look that would have made even Hermione Granger shake in her boots. Harry decided to stay put after that.

It seemed that the dragon didn’t want to be left alone, and Harry was worried that it would injure itself even more trying to prevent Harry from leaving. “Well, if you’re going to make me stay here while you heal, the least you could do is let me sit down.”

The dragon whuffed and then turned its head away from Harry. “So now you’re ignoring me. After everything that I’ve done for you? Figures, doesn’t it?” But as Harry had been speaking, the dragon had been laboriously moving its long body into a position where a fragile, tiny human could sit.

“You want me to sit there?” he asked incredulously. This had quickly moved from simply being on the top 10 list of strangest interactions he’d had with wild creatures to being the strangest encounter. The dragon looked at him as if Harry was the one that was crazy, as if to say, you wanted to sit down—so I made you a place to sit. What’s so hard to understand about that?

Rather than risk angering the dragon even further, Harry decided it would just be easier to go along with it. “I want you to know that I’m doing this under protest,” he couldn’t help but add. The dragon just snorted.

“Right, well, I guess we’re doing this.” Harry had reached the place where a _tiny, fragile human could sit_ when a dragon was curled on its side, but he didn’t know how to get there. “It looks like I’m going to have to climb a bit. If you could not hurt me while I do this, that would be great.” He took a deep breath and began to gingerly heave himself up onto one of the dragon’s legs, careful to avoid its wing. He paused for a moment, but the dragon seemed fine—one eye was closed and the other was watching Harry with a lazy interest.

Harry hauled himself up a bit more, and then settled with a sigh into the small space. It was surprisingly comfortable and warm and he could feel each breath that the dragon took. The gentle motion was comforting, and he was soon dozing off.

~~~

Harry awoke some hours later, feeling warm and rested,and still very much on a dragon, which was also blinking awake—looks like he'd had a nap, too.

"Mmm, you're very comfortable, I'll have you know. Best nap I've had in a long time, thanks." He gently patted and rubbed the dragon's flank, feeling the smooth scales and warm leathery hide under his palm. The dragon let out a crooning sound and a little wiggle rippled down the length of its body. It seemed… pleased?

"You're an odd thing, aren't you?" Harry asked, continuing to pet the great beast like it was a large cat or a particularly sweet dog. "I mean that in the best way, of course. You're a very good listener. Could talk to you about anything, couldn't I? And who else gets to say they've napped on a dragon and lived to tell the tale? Not bloody many people, that's who." He paused, looking back at the bandaged wing. "...Where did you come from, I wonder?" He hummed a bit, wondering if he should contact a few foreign reserves or dragon ranches. There was no way this dragon didn't grow up around people. He was too… social not to have been.

"Hey wait—how come you let me nap on you and you wouldn’t let Charlie help you? Why did you attack him? It can't just be because you don't like redheads," he said, only partially joking. (Sure, there were certain breeds that were very sensitive to colours, but he had a hunch this dragon wasn't one of them.)

The dragon just grumble-growled at him and turned it's big horned head away from Harry. Huh.

"Well, he's nice. He would've been just as attentive and helpful as I was, would've helped with your wing and everything…" He sighed a little and rubbed the back of his neck. "He puts you guys first, you know? Dragons, I mean. You lot are the loves of his life. Might've broken his heart that you didn't like him." Another huff from the dragon almost sounded like ' _good'._

"I think it's part of why we didn't work out, you know? Charlie and I used to date—" A low unhappy grumble from the dragon. "—but we ended it on good terms. He loves his dragons, and I'm too busy building my career and pining after Malfoy." He laughed a little, shaking his head.

Unless Harry was crazy, the dragon’s ear turned more towards him, and he was glancing at Harry more. Was this dragon trying to play coy with him? This was too weird. “What, you like hearing about Malfoy more than you like hearing about Charlie? You’re about as weird as me, you know that?”

Still, the dragon was calm, and was paying attention to him, and seemed to like his voice. Now was as good a time as any to get that collar on him, now that he had his trust. Moving towards his bag, Harry kept talking. “You know, that’s something that Ginny and Hermione both smacked into me a few months ago. I like Quidditch players that care about their family. Isn’t that something? Guess I like a person that can handle a big piece of wood between their legs.”

Harry snickered at his own joke, not that the dragon would understand. Glancing at it, it was… Smoke was billowing out of its nostrils as he looked firmly away from Harry. What the hell was _with_ this dragon? “Hey, you alright, there?” He reached out and smoothed the soft underbelly of the dragon, watching it start to relax. “You are a weird one. I’ve never met a dragon like you,” he said quietly.

The dragon looked back at Harry and lowered its head down towards him. Great, now he’d offended him, and he was going to get eaten. The dragon used its nose and mouth to nudge at Harry, almost _expectantly._ Harry stared, putting a hand on the dragon’s snout. “You… Want me to keep talking?” It didn’t nod, but it seemed like that was what he wanted. “Alright. Alright, okay. I can keep talking, don’t worry. What do you want to hear about? My Auror training? Most people get a laugh out of that. You know Ron did better than I ever could have? I think because he’s big on chess and strategy, and I…”

Harry thought as he reached for his bag. “Ah, fuck, what was it they said? I ‘barrelled headfirst into danger and the only thing that would come of that would be disaster.’ I think that was what they said. I didn’t _fail_ basic, but they made it clear I’d need a lot more training to be on the same level.” Alright, he had his bag, he just needed to reach in and grab the collar. That would be easy. Reaching slowly into his bag, he kept talking.

“I think Ron was disappointed that we weren’t going to be Aurors together like he wanted us to be, but I think I’m glad. I like taking care of animals like you, you know. You’re a lot less complicated than people.” Alright, he had the collar, now he just had to put it on.

The dragon caught sight of the collar, and the second he did, he was leaping and bounding away as best he could. Hell, this was going to be like Hermione trying to give Crookshanks a bath, wasn’t it? “Hey,” Harry said as firmly as he could, holding the collar out. “I need to get this collar on you, alright? The Ministry is going to start worrying. You’re an untagged dragon that no one knows anything about, don’t you think that’s a little too dangerous for people to just let you run around unchecked? Didn’t you see the poor trees you murdered on your landing in here?”

Now it seemed like the dragon was barely listening to him, his wings spreading out on either side of him. He was growling and snarling at Harry and alright, alright. He needed to be careful here, if he didn’t want to end up right next to Charlie in the hospital. This dragon could breathe fire, if the smoke coming out of his nostrils was anything to go by, so he needed to be careful about that.

The dragon was plainly warning Harry to _stay the fuck away_ and he didn’t quite know what to make of it. Dragons, once they trusted him, had never gotten aggressive over a collar, especially since it was never too tight nor was it designed to hurt them. But once again, this dragon was defying all Harry’s expectations.

Harry took a few steps towards the dragon, which took only one step back, wings spread to look big and menacing. It was growling, its sharp teeth on full display and smoke tendrils rising from its nose. It was textbook defensive behavior… but Harry had to get the collar on.

“Okay, I’m going to try and be gentle, but I need this on you. The last thing I want to do is hurt you, or get myself killed,” he added under his breath. The dragon let out a particularly threatening hiss and Harry swallowed thickly, quickly reaching into his bag and withdrawing his shrunken Firebolt. He needed to get up behind the dragon’s head to be out of range of the teeth and flames, but still had to be very careful of its spiraled horns, huge wings, and tail.

A quick tap of his wand to the broom restored his Firebolt to its original size. Seeing that Harry’s plan was to fly, the dragon snapped its teeth at him, making Harry jump back, and then immediately onto his broom.

With Harry in the air and the dragon grounded, he knew it would be a short but hard fight. The dragon kept shuffling away, tossing his great head back and forth to throw Harry off. He even let out a few bursts of flame as Harry leapt from his Firebolt and onto the base of the dragon’s neck.

A shrill cry left the dragon’s great gaping maw as Harry struggled to hold on and get the collar to expand at the same time. A frantic, wandless _Engorgio_ brought the collar up to the correct size and a locking charm fastened it quickly and securely.

And all at once, the fight seemed to drain out of the dragon.

His long tail dragged on the ground and his wings drooped. His entire huge pearly body went still and his head drooped, looking down at the clawed up earth in front of him. Harry was easily able to slide from his perch at the dragon’s neck onto the ground, now getting nervous.

“Hey… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, I just needed to get the tag on you”— He tried to rub the dragon’s belly, to soothe him, but was surprised as the beast seemed to flinch away from his touch.

He turned his great body to face Harry, and the man was shocked. The emotions on the dragon’s scaly face and in his mercurial eyes was unmistakable. He was hurt and he was betrayed. It was obvious (no matter how crazy and far fetched the idea was) that the dragon believed Harry had only healed his wing and gained his trust to cause him harm, perhaps take him away to a reservation or ranch— or even perhaps turn him into expensive pearly dragonhide boots and gloves. He raised a huge sharp claw and began to scratch and pull at the collar.

“Wait, no, don’t do that— you might hurt yourself”— But the dragon silenced him with a blast of hot air from his snout and a growl that originated in his belly, as if to say _oh haven’t you done enough?_

The dragon, once so calm and trusting of Harry, was working itself up into a state of extreme agitation. He began to stomp around the clearing, head swinging dramatically from side to side as he tried to rid himself of the collar. Harry quickly darted to the treeline, not wanting to be in the path of those giant feet, really quite worried now that the dragon might hurt him in retaliation for the collar. He could see now how the dragon had managed to injure Charlie so badly - it was big, and powerful, and clearly had a temper.

The dragon was snarling, and breathing fire on every other exhale, and was behaving very strangely, even for an angry dragon. He was twisting in on himself, contorting his body into the strangest positions, and almost looked as though he was in some kind of pain as well as being furious.

Harry didn’t know what to do, had never seen this behaviour before, and was wary of doing anything that might make the dragon even more enraged. An angry dragon was a dangerous dragon after all. Instead, he simply watched, revelling in the chance to observe this unusual behaviour.

But then things got even weirder.

The dragon started to shake and writhe where it stood, jaws stretched wide. Harry was about to run forwards, ready to risk his life to save the dragon from whatever pain it was suffering, when suddenly the air around the dragon shimmered, and then the dragon was gone.

In its place was a man.

A pale, blond man.

A man who was unbearably familiar to Harry.

Draco Malfoy turned round to face Harry, a hard look in his eyes daring Harry to say anything about what had just happened.

Harry always had been one to take risks though.

“Draco?” he said in shock, “What just happened? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Draco said shortly. He wasn’t looking at Harry anymore; his eyes were lowered to the ground and he was shuffling his feet awkwardly, so unlike the confident Draco Harry knew.

“Are you sure?” When there was no reply from Draco, Harry pressed further, unable to restrain his curiosity. “Why were you a dragon? How long have you been able to transform?”

Draco was still silent. Harry watched him walk slowly round the clearing, letting him take some time, waiting for him to feel ready to talk.

Finally, Draco turned to face Harry.

“It runs in the family. That was the first time I’d ever transformed.” Draco said, clearly still uncomfortable talking to Harry about it.

Harry watched him, and saw how he kept rolling his shoulders, like his shoulders were in pain, or… Or the point where his wing connected to his back. “Hey, are you okay? You were hurt earlier-” Harry had started to walk towards Draco, hands out towards him to try to help, but Draco snapped around to glare viciously at him, and Harry was scared he may still get hit with a fireball.

“Don’t you come near me unless it’s to take this _thing_ off.”

Take- Oh. The collar was still around his neck. This was… Okay, this was _really_ weird, even by Harry’s standards. He nodded slowly, taking another step closer. “Okay. Alright. I can take it off.” The look that Draco shot him was somewhere between hopeful and so distrusting. That dragon had really been him the whole time? Draco didn’t turn around, he remained facing Harry, which meant Harry would have to put his arms around Draco’s neck to get the collar off of him. Right.

He was probably going to have to lie to the Ministry and tell them that he hadn’t been able to find the dragon. He needed to go back to that town and ask more about that myth. But most important right now, he needed to take care of Draco. Reaching around him, his fingers slid against the clasp and, with a small amount of difficulty, he released it and held the collar in his hands, bringing it away from Draco’s neck. “Stand back,” Draco told him, his voice soft as the very air around him seemed to ripple.

Doing as asked, Harry stared at him as Draco did turn now, throwing him a look over his shoulder. “Don’t come after me again.” With that said, he shimmered before the large dragon form was back, and he was taking off, up into the sky fairly clumsily before he flew off entirely.

This… This was going to be extremely difficult to explain back at the Ministry.

**Author's Note:**

> We do have plans to continue this, so keep an eye out! 
> 
> Come find us on tumblr!  
> [glittering_git](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/glittering-git)  
> [MalenkayaCherepakha](https://malenkayacherepakha.tumblr.com/)


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